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Monday, July 18, 2011

Wheatley

Wheatley is my current project (at least at the time of writing this post). I've been working on him since April. I'll post the progress so far, then edit as I keep going.

I had plans to cosplay as Edward Elric this year at Dragon*con. Building the arm seemed like fun and I always enjoy seeing good Edward costumes. Then Portal 2 came out. And I played it. And everything changed. The decision that I had to build Wheatley was pretty instant and Edward was tossed out. I wasn't the only one to overhaul cosplay plans thanks to that game. My good friend scrapped her cosplay plans in favor of GLaDOS, while her husband is going to be dressed up as Cave Johnson. I'm super excited.

Currently my plans are to dress up as Chell and carry Wheatley instead of the gun. Another friend generously volunteered to make Chell's Portal 2 jumpsuit for me, since I'm sewing-incapable and won't have enough time to get it sorted out after getting Wheatley done. I will be making the boots though, which I'll make another post for if those manage to work out.

Anyway. Wheatley. I decided I wanted a Wheatley prop that actually does things, so I'm building this guy as a puppet, making use of the very convenient hole in his back.

I started out with lots of idea sketches on how to get this to work. Some ideas were good, others not so much. But that's how it goes!

I did a lot of research on prop methods and ended up following a lot of techniques from the wonderful Volpin Props. Appropriately, I used a lot of the methods from his first Portal gun build. In retrospect, it might not have been super wise to try to apply them all to Wheatley, but I didn't know what else to do.

First I started out with a block of florist's foam which I glued into a cube, then cut and sanded into a ball; a process that's a lot harder than I figured it'd be.

As you can see there, I drew on the details. Then I used my dremel to carve them out.

This stuff is fantastic. I have a feeling it's going to become a staple of my cosplay projects from now on. For those not familiar, it's a plastic-like substance that comes in a rolled sheet. You heat it up with a heat gun and it becomes soft. You mold it into whatever shape you want, then let it cool and it becomes rock hard. Amazing stuff.

Wonderflex was followed up with Apoxie Sculpt, which I globbed on, shaped, let cure, then carved with the dremel.

As you can see there, I was trying to achieve hard edges and add detail. This was a learning process. A really pathetic learning process, honestly. I had no idea what I was doing at all. I sanded and redid all the apoxie on Wheatley over and over again. Each time I got a better handle on what I was doing and understanding how this stuff works, but it took a lot longer than it probably should have.

Once I'd done about half of the apoxie work I moved on to cutting Wheatley in half and hollowing him out.

The inside was then carefully coated in Wonderflex so the two halves could still fit back together.

After he was hollowed and pieced back together, I worked on the raised area that frames the hole on his front. I'm not sure how many times I sanded it off and remade it, but it was a lot. My shakey hands and lack of appropriate tools kept conspiring against me to make the frame rough, imperfect and uneven. Here's one of those attempts:

It was too large and too rough. The picture doesn't show quite how bad it was. The worst problem was that the circle wasn't perfect. Not a big problem when you're just looking at it like that, but once his circular eyeplate was occupying that space, it was going to be a serious issue.

I did a lot of brainstorming trying to figure out a way to make a perfect circle. I started searching "plastic hoop" on eBay one night and dozens of embroidery hoop listings popped up. They come in a wide range of sizes, including the one I needed.

The back hole didn't need the perfect raised edge that the front hole needed, but I put a second embroidery hoop in there just for the sake of the perfect circle. The side holes don't have hoops so they aren't completely perfect, but I'm less worried about them.

While working on the hoops, I was also making progress on the eye plate. It wasn't completely finished, but at least you could tell what it was.

I also started work on the handles. I ordered a sheet of thick ABS plastic for the side pieces.

Much like Wolf's badges, I decided to recreate high res versions of certain Wheatley parts in Photoshop. His eye, Aperture logo and sticker were remade in the highest quality I could manage.

Honestly the quality is a little too high. They're 300dpi and some of the detail was lost when they were printed. I'm still satisfied with how they turned out, though.

Once I had Wheatley's shell, eye plate and eyelids squared away, I coated them in high build primer, as per Volpin's Portal gun method.

It worked out really well. That stuff is super handy. There were a couple rough spots, but since I'm building damaged Wheatley it's not a problem.

Last week Wheatley saw some light coats of white paint. Over the weekend I added details with Model Magic acrylic.

The next day I mussed up his pristine finish with a long weathering session using both Model Magic acrylic and watered down Basic acrylic.

Did my best to match most of the damage on the Wheatley model. It's not spot-on, but I think it should work well enough.

And that's where we are now! I'll be editing this post with updates, so stay tuned.

UPDATE: Monday, July 25, 2011

Bit more progress to share!

I finally added the details to Wheatley's faceplate. Got the sticker, decal and dots put on. I also added some more weathering because I needed to adjust the heights of the three scratches on the left. The additional weathering turned out darker than I liked so recently I darkened a few other things on the faceplate to distract from that. This picture doesn't show that additional darkening.

Work on the handles has finally turned in my favor.

I've been struggling with getting the proper curved center section for months. Curving the various kinds of plastic I've been using wasn't the problem, but joining those curved pieces securely to the straight pieces was proving impossible. Long sticks like that just provide too much torque for any glue to contend with. In the end I made use of thin pipe which is unfortunately a bit thicker than Wheatley's handles should be, but allowed me a hollow space to stuff with Apoxie sculpt at the joined sections, which made a very secure hold.

For attaching the black side pieces to Wheatley, I had the idea at work one day while staring at my Eve figure, whose arms and head are held on with magnets, that attaching the handles to Wheatley with magnets would be the best solution for making them positionable and removable whenever I need to open Wheatley up. You can see the magnets in the progress pic above.

Unfortunately they're not completely accurate to Wheatley's design, thanks to a lack of planning on my part back when I cleared those channels, but they should be close enough.

My current focus is his eye, which bit by bit is coming together.

You can actually still see the details on it when it's lit up, but convincing my little point-and-shoot to show that was just impossible.

And that's it for now! More updates when I make more progress. =)

UPDATE: Monday, August 8, 2011

Update time!

Sadly all of the plans for Wheatley's eye didn't work out as anticipated. I wanted his eye light to be able to move inside the eye plate, but the bike brake cable design I'd worked out just couldn't cut it in such a cramped space. In the end I just glued the eye right into the rig.

This is the puppeting rig. Though his eye light doesn't move any more, it still allows full movement of the eyeplate and eyelids.

A lot of fussing and bad language later and the eye rig has been painted and installed. At long last Wheatley has a face!

All that left were the electronic bits. I spent most of the day yesterday constructing Wheatley's controls and what I've decided to call his brain. The sound module holding his quotes is from the wonderful Replica Props.

Radio Shack must love me.

The audio buttons alone account for a ton of wires. Ten buttons and pos/neg to each means before you even start counting things like amp, speaker, audio chip and his LEDs, there's 20 wires snaking around in there taking up space. Unfortunately the space they're taking up is the spot I'd chosen for his speaker. Said speaker should be arriving this evening (I had to order a new one.. the first one was too big) so I'll be doing some fussing tonight to make it all fit.

That means that the next update should be of the finished product! Hoorjay!!

UPDATE: Monday, August 10, 2011

Done! At long last!! Had a fun little photo shoot last night. Here are the end results!

I also shot a video of his puppet rig at work. The movement's a little rough and he was being kind of squeaky, so I may shoot a better video later.

Great job on this. I was considering this project for awhile after I finished my Portal Turret. You did such a good job that I feel like there is no reason for me to undertake it. A great Wheatley already exists. Fantastic Work.

@Ryan Palser: Oh my god I can't even tell you how much it means to hear something like that from you. I'm a huge fan of your turret. I've gawked at your build process so many times and lamented not being able to do work of that caliber. Thank you so much.

I saw your vid of the puppet in action on Joystiq and this is, by FAR, the greatest thing I've seen in a while! Wheatly, made into a puppet....best thing I've seen! I sure hope Valve catches wind of this, invite you to their lair, and you assault their employees with your awesome creation.

I think I'm in love with you. Really... REALLY!!! This is the best thing I've seen in my whole life ;__; Woah, I can't say anything.... it's just PERFECT! (I would like to live in America, to see you and to make some photos with you and Wheatley <3 But unfortunately I'm Italian >_>)You made a really AWESOME job!

If I would like to make a Wheatley for me (without sounds and lights because I'm not able to do that) can I use your model as reference? Because It's really perfect ;__; Or I'll pay you. ;__;

You don't need the moving eye. I saw the video first on Geekologie, then came to see how you did it, and I hadn't noticed the eye doesn't move until you mentioned it. You are able to capture his expressions so well...

You should be working at movies and stuff. (You probably already do, don't you?)

If you're ever in the market for having babies, you can have mine. I hope they get your awesomeness.

Seriously, that's AMAZING! I'm in such awe. The puppeteering was *perfect*! I didn't even notice you were controlling it in the video. When I read the guide, I was actually expecting to read an electronics section involving servomotors and a programmable circuit. THAT'S how spot-on and precise it was - I thought it was electronically controlled!

You have no idea how much *SQUEE*-ing I'm doing at the moment!!Your Wheatley is absolutely AMAZING!! I love him! You've truly captured his personality in the eye movements in that video. And thank you soooo much for sharing your building process. It makes me want to make one myself!I'm definitely going ot be checking out your other cosplays now! My afternoon is set. XD

Hi! I'm a huge fan of this. I decided to use some of these techniques in my costume for dragon con. I need to make claws. I have an origami claw base. I was wondering if i need to use apoxie sculpt after the wonder flex, and if so, how to go about doing it. This would really help me! Thanks.

Well, for the inevitable moment when you actually do get invited to valve and given all the swag you can carry, make sure to hand this puppet for a while to their lead animator. I heard she used to puppeteer for the muppets show.

I have to say that you're one of the most inspiring prop-makers I've ever seen. Every time I watch your Wheatley videos I feel this boiling urge to build... I've been itching to undertake a large, ridiculously challenging project like this, and since you've so kindly documented your progress, it makes me feel like I might be able to achieve something possibly half as complex... thank you for such an incredible contribution to the prop world AND for the inspiration you've given me to try and bring Adventure Core to life. <3 Keep being amazing.

holyshitthisisawesome. I'm thinking of maybe possibly making one to accompany a chell costume I am also maybe possibly making. Could you elaborate a bit on the eyelid mechanism? I see that its like, fishing line pulling the lids open when you push down on a lever on the inside, but more details would be nice... Thanks! :D

Absolutely TERRIFIC job! The sheer amount of thought and work you put into this REALLY shows. From the modelling to the electronics, this project is something you should be very proud of. It touches on multiple skill-sets and I have to say you aced them all.

This is absolutely brilliant! My original idea for my own Wheatley prop was to do a computer case, but the idea of a puppet is so much better. Your video especially is great -- I don't know that I could ever have the coordination to move everything so perfectly to match the speech. :)

I am hungarian, and there are many Wheatley fans around here, too. Sadly, not all of us can speak english very well. I saw that anyone can use your methods, and make a Wheatley for themselves. Well, I'm not as good as you, so I'm planning to make a "simplified" one (means: It's not going to move, or have an eye that can light up), and post my progress in hungarian. Of course, I'll link this page, and give you the credit, and will show you the finished product if you want to see it. :)

This was truly inspiring. So much so, I build my own! I got alot of inspiration from this blog, but got creative along the way. Though not as awesome as yours in detail, I am very proud of it. Thanks for inspiring amazing Halloween costumes!Youtube Link

I'm speechless. Every photo made me go insane more and more. This is out of this world, literally from the bloody space. How can be someone this talented?As a person whose deeply in love with Wheatley, I respectfully bow down before you. As of now, you made me the most jealous person in the world.By the way, Machiavelli, genius.

Hey there. What a wonderful puppet. I'm seriously persuing making one for myself now. Just a question before I jump into this, How much did this cost altogether? Looks like it'd be hundreds of dollars, if not thousands. I won't be rigging him with as much electronics as you, I think I'm going a bit more with simple speakers and maybe an mp3 or two to play and pause.

Since I saw this, I've been spazzing out. Both at your work and at the thought of doing it myself. Because now I am. You.aremyhero.<3

@Admetcetera: Thank you so much! I hope your Wheatley-building adventures go well. Not counting stuff lost to trial, error and stupid mistakes or the cost of tools, Wheatley cost somewhere in the range of $500.

@Brian Tkatch: I'm afraid I don't have any mass-production plans or capabilities. Wheatley isn't my character to sell. I was just ballparking how much I spent for those interested in building one as a personal project.

I guess I'll have to go ghetto then, hmm? It's a good thing my father is a carpenter! I'm sure he can supply some of the stuff for me, otherwise I'm in a heap of trouble. More motivation for me to get a job, then! My friend supplied me with a styrofoam ball that's smaller than your Wheatley. Maybe 20 inches in diameter, if not smaller? Since I'm going to be carrying him around a con, though, it's probably better that he's smaller for me. I may use something (but what, I don't know) to expand him so I can fit my hand in the rig well enough, but I haven't even started yet.

You think if I skipped a bit on the wiring and gadgets, he'd be a tad cheaper? I figure I don't really need to do too much fancy stuff, since he's going to be a companion piece to GLaDOS who I'm cosplaying as, and I'll need some money to make her costume as well. And another question, how exactly did you make the actual eyeplate itself? (The blue cracked optic part where the light comes out.) Did you use some thin paper and lacquer over it to apply it to a curved lens? Thanks so much! If you'd like to correspond more frequently, you can message me through DeviantArt. Mine's

Hey, this is awesome! ^0^Me and my little brother plan on making a Wheatley for ourselves too x3I just have two questions:1. What lamp did you use for his eye?2. How much Wonderflex and Apoxie sculpt do we propably need for a Wheatley of a size of yours?I'd appreciate an answer a lot ^0^Thank you very much

The construction was already impressive, but you went and added movement and speech to it, absolutely amazing work! I was curious to how you developed your craft, seeing as even the initial sketches look professional, and the pages of thumbnails remind me of a graphic designer or art director. Is your career something similar to a prop designer or was this just developed through countless trial and error?

@Yutaki: I used one of these for the light. I bought a jumbo roll of wonderflex and two 4 lb. batches of Apoxie Sculpt. Keep in mind I wasted a lot of supplies in trial and error, ESPECIALLY Apoxie. I'd suggest buying 4 lbs. to start. You can always buy more later if you need to. I would imagine the large roll of wonderflex is enough for this project, but I haven't seen the large roll so I can't be sure.

@Porkbun: Thank you! I'm actually a graphic designer. This is just a hobby. Countless trial and error pretty much sums this project up. That and an exhausting amount of research.

I have been curious about Wheatley's eye. You say that you used one of the LED disks, but how in the world did you get the design onto the light? As one of these bloggers put it: "And another question, how exactly did you make the actual eyeplate itself? (The blue cracked optic part where the light comes out.) Did you use some thin paper and lacquer over it to apply it to a curved lens?" What did you use for lighting it up? It looks like you have two battery packs hooked up to the light in the picture.

Could you contact me and explain it? I am aspriting to create a Wheatley, and when I found this blog I literally could not stop smiling.

Hello!Great job on the core you built there! It's very inspiring. Actually after seeing this I too want to pursue this project. I had a few questions if it's alright with you. I was wondering what kind of foam you used. the largest foam i found was 12 by 9 by 6. i also wanted to know if the foam you used was wet or dry. also a specific list of his demensions would be terrific. honestly i was in the store for a while just deciding on what type of foam to use! It would be much apreaciated if you would get back to me because Im dead set on building this and I really think this is a great project you did. thank you!

I'm a grad student at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center and am building an artificially intelligent animatronic character this semester. I referenced your project on my project blog as one of the inspirations. I hope you don't mind.

I am 11 and am one of the biggest Portal fans ever I know you will never make them for someone else but, could you explain the inside controls I dont get them. Thanks, mdawg81400@gmail.com send me a tutorial.:)

Hello, I was wondering if you would send me a large, high quality image of Wheatley's eye, possibly the one that you used? That would be excellent! I am a huge fan of this model and showed all my friends. Seriously great work! Keep making more like this! It's really awesome the things that some fans will do! Oh and any type of image will work great, (pdf, jpeg, ect.)You can also email me at jakesepictechno@gmail.com

You could make alot of money from this.To figure out how much youll make if you sell these, I recommend these steps.Set up a shop on this website,Make another Wheatly from scratch while keeping track of how much it costs.Take the cost of Wheatly and add 5-40%.That should be the price (Shipping and handling would be your call).

Do you mind if I steal those designs? My town does a relay for life which raises money for breast cancer, and you forma team, raise money, etc... Well, one of my friends and I are making a team called Aperture Science and are trying to get as much Portal gear as possible.

That's amazing My dad and I are going to try to work together on making one of these with a yellow optic and putting a real AI in it. I also would work on a real program where a motor inside would close the eyelids every few minutes. Where did you get the optic light? If you made it, how did you make it?

I can't believe he asked $20!!!! This thing is worth $750 in labor and markups to start with!!! (priceless honestly)

You're an inspiration. After I saw what the possibilities are with these mediums, I really want to go to film/sculpture school now. I had no idea it could be done like this, now I see that people are making all types of amazing props like this. (how many geeks have proposed to you by now??? XD!!!)

Hello, I am cosplaying as Chell sometime this year and I just wanted to ask would I be able to take your guide to making your Wheatley as the base so I can make Wheatley also? Obviously if you wouldn't want me to considering it's your idea it's fine :)Thank you.

Furin,My son found your Wheatley model not to long ago, and I have been tasked to construct the same. I have understood most of the instruction you posted except the puppeteer rigging. Could you clarify or send me somewhere that I could get a better grasp of the construction?

Could you send me detailed instructions on how to make this. My son is crazy for Wheatley and wants this for Christmas. Could you or would you consider making one that I could buy for him? Let me know.

Could you send me detailed instructions on how to make this. My son is crazy for Wheatley and wants this for Christmas. Could you or would you consider making one that I could buy for him? Let me know.

I'm quiet, and I like to be by myself and I'm not girly. I also want something that suits my body type. And preferably with dark short hair to match my eyebrows because long wigs drive me nuts. Trench coats and big boots are awesome. Any kind of jackets are awesome too. I'm a bit antisocial sometimes, and I don't want to cosplay as a female character. I like final fantasy.Cosplay Kostüm

What a great Job! outstanding, do you have planing to sell it ? maybe we can do a commission program, our website is http://cosplaysky.co.uk/， pls feel free to email us "cosplayskyshare@gmail.com" if you have any interests.

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